keeping logs outside through winter

[Jimbob87]

Hi this is my first season i have seasoned my logs all summer in vented bags jst started to get a steady number of sales. I have undercover storage for about 16 bags which is 2 trailer loads to collect where im storing outside. my idea is to sell 8 bring another load home to stand while i sell the other 8 basically to let them dry of from any wet weather and keep doing this on a cycle. Are logs ok out in the elements over winter? wont draw moisture back in will they? any hints or tips would be apreciated cos im quite proud of my nice dry logs dont want to ruin them lol

[APC]

Main thing you want is air circulation. Maximise exposure to wind.

[robbo 110]

keep them off the ground with pallets an cover at least the top with tarps, wood doesnt dry well when its 5' degrees for weeks on end!!!! best bet is stop them from getting wet in the first place

[eggsarascal]

Hi this is my first season i have seasoned my logs all summer in vented bags jst started to get a steady number of sales. I have undercover storage for about 16 bags which is 2 trailer loads to collect where im storing outside. my idea is to sell 8 bring another load home to stand while i sell the other 8 basically to let them dry of from any wet weather and keep doing this on a cycle. Are logs ok out in the elements over winter? wont draw moisture back in will they? any hints or tips would be apreciated cos im quite proud of my nice dry logs dont want to ruin them lol

 

Keep em covered up, even a few old tarps thrown over the top will do, just to keep the worst of the rain off. My customers seem to love it when i turn up with a full load of dry logs, on a rainy day, and my tilt bursting all shapes.

 

The amount of new customers that rang me last year(after thay had been shafted with green or soaking wet softwood) and asked "are your logs dry" was unbeileveable.

[windfall]

I am starting to bring as many of my vented bags off the field and onto my tarmac yard as possible, ill then get tarps over all of them as mine seem damp although they have been on pallets with old banners over the top.

[Alycidon]

Let them get wet and they will increase in moisture levels. Inside is best, outside with a sheet over the top is second best,

 

A

[gensetsteve]

Dont shoot me but in my experience the logs that I have let fully season for a year and left in a heap without cover burn the best. They may be black and wet when delivered but within a few days of being put in a wood store the rain water will be gone. People who have been burning wood for years know the score. People who have just had a 6 inch wood burner fitted may not. Then you need to deliver bone dry cream coloured logs that have been barn stored and covered during transport. Its more a case of picking your customers rather than them picking you

[likeitorlumpit]

Dont shoot me but in my experience the logs that I have let fully season for a year and left in a heap without cover burn the best. They may be black and wet when delivered but within a few days of being put in a wood store the rain water will be gone. People who have been burning wood for years know the score. People who have just had a 6 inch wood burner fitted may not. Then you need to deliver bone dry cream coloured logs that have been barn stored and covered during transport. Its more a case of picking your customers rather than them picking you

 

I've heard this many times over the years- there must be some truth in it

[Alycidon]

In Sept last year my logs were 5% and 9% MC for soft and hard respectively. Measured again in December they had risen to 10% and 16% or thereabouts, barn stored. 16% is still ideal to burn but it shows that even barn stored MC will rise.

 

A

[coppiceer]

Dont shoot me but in my experience the logs that I have let fully season for a year and left in a heap without cover burn the best. They may be black and wet when delivered but within a few days of being put in a wood store the rain water will be gone. People who have been burning wood for years know the score. People who have just had a 6 inch wood burner fitted may not. Then you need to deliver bone dry cream coloured logs that have been barn stored and covered during transport. Its more a case of picking your customers rather than them picking you

 

I too have found that repeated wetting and drying in the open aids the seasoning process. This is where people will shoot me but: I have found that burning logs at 20%-25% MC after 1 year still leaves them too wet to burn efficiently. My chimney sweep gave me an annual lecture about the buildup of tar and other deposits on my fire and chimney. I now store my logs for 2 years: 1 in the open and 1 under tarpaulins; giving me an MC in the range 10%-15%.